Smoothieboard is a controller board for digital fabrication machines. It is made to be used in 3D printers ( Reprap ), laser cutters, and CNC mills.

Compared to most existing boards, it is based on a more powerful microcontroller, is much simpler to configure and use, and offers many new features.

BASIC features

• All-in-one, ready to use controller board

• 5 stepper motors drivers, 1/16 microstepping
• 3 small MOSFETS
• 3 big MOSFETS
• 4 thermistor inputs ( for reading temperature )
• 6 end-of-course endstop inputs
• ethernet connector

Avantages

• 32bits ARM-Cortex M3 microcontroller, running at 120Mhz

• Integrated 4GB micro-SD card
• Easy configuration by editing a file on the micro-SD card
• Ethernet support, presenting a Web interface, and a Telnet interface ( for Pronterface )
• Direct access to the micro-SD card when connected to a computer via USB
• Concurrent acces via serial using host software, on the same USB cable
• Digital current control of stepper motor drivers ( no more tweaking potentiometers with a screwdriver )
• More precise and higher speed movement
• More correct and longer-ahead prediction of acceleration and movement
• Multiple arm solutions ( cartesian, delta, h-bot, etc ... )
• Hostless usage possible with a control panel
• Good heatsinking, allowing full use of the stepper drivers potential
• Many configuration options
• SPI, I2C and serial port, free GPIO pins available for extension
• Can be easily interfaced with external drivers for use with more powerful stepper motors
• Can control a laser tube for laser cutting
• Can control a spindle and other accesories for a CNC mill.
• Very active community and development
• Rich documentation ( see bellow )
• Modular firmware making it easier to add features and to integrate into new machine designs
• Provided pre-flashed and ready to use
• RepRap compatible

Open-Source HARDWARE

The Smoothie project's goal is to create a firmware and controller card for digital fabrication machines that works on as many different machines as possible. We want it to be simple to use and easy to extend, so it can be useful to as many projects, people, and uses as possible.

The controller card, as well as the firmware it runs, are both free ( meaning GPL-licensed ), and produced by the Smoothie community. The card descends in part from other free electronics produced by the RepRap community. The firmware itself descends in part from GRBL.

You are free ( and very welcome ) to use, copy, better and redistribute all of the design and code files under the same license.

variants

Smoothie comes in three main variants :

• 3X, for laser cutters and CNC mills : has 3 stepper motor drivers and two small MOSFETs.
• 4X, for 3D printers, laser cutters and CNC mills : has 4 stepper motor drivers, two small MOSFETs and two big MOSFETs, as well as Ethernet support.
• 5X, for 3D printers ( including dual extruder setups ), laser cutters and CNC mills : has 5 stepper motor drivers, three small MOSFETs and three big MOSFETs, as well as Ethernet support.

Each variant comes in two versions indicating wether their connectors are pre-soldered or not ( -X and -XC ) : for exemple 4X comes with no pre-soldered connectors, and 4XC comes with it's connectors pre-soldered.

This page is for the 5XC version ( 5 stepper motor drivers, three small MOSFETs and three big MOSFETS, pre-soldered connectors and Ethernet support ).

LINKS

• Smoothieware, documentation
• Step-by-step guide to setting up a 3D printer with Smoothie
• Wiki page
• Schematic for wiring
• IRC
• Forum
• Mailing list
• Smoothie @ Github
• Smoothie @ Kickstarter
• Smoothie @ Hackaday